$26,082

943

"The Hero Trap" is a frenetic, roguelike dungeon-crawler. A glorious treasure has been promised, but all who’ve sought to attain it have found only death. But you have a plan! You can gather the souls of great warriors past, who’ve failed where you now seek success, to aid you on your epic quest. These heroes are strong, but not invincible--their spirit energy can only withstand so much punishment before returning back to the ethereal ooze.

Switching Heroes

In The Hero Trap, you control up to three heroes at a time. One hero is active, or "materialized," while the other two heroes are in their ghostly form. Each hero has a unique ability as well as their own individual items, stats and health. The challenges you face are many and you’ll need to use the different heroes accordingly. Some heroes are equipped to dodge attacks, while others maintain crowd-control or deal major damage. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately), only the materialized hero takes damage, which you'll need to factor into your battle strategy. It's tactical decision-making in real time.

Using Items

Each hero can hold one item, which goes into effect when that hero is in play (materialized). Items can be upgraded, changing their effect and sometimes allowing for their use across heroes.

Gold

No dungeon quest would be complete without gold! Gold is the universal currency of this world. It allows you to buy and upgrade items, acquire heroes and even bribe the guards of hidden passages. Luckily for you, enemies die in an explosive flurry of gold coins. So hack, smash and flame on, friends, we reward that kind of behavior here.

Randomized Levels

The game features randomly generated maps, allowing for an ever changing gameplay experience. With 20+ levels of increasing difficulty and a new map on each floor, your dauntless mission will always be fresh and challenging.

Super Mode

After decimating a multitude of hordes, your heroes’ spirits are imbued with a burst of energy, triggering a “super mode”. This bombastic state of epic destruction does not last long, so be sure to smite many foes!

Heroes from across space and time have been drawn into its nebulous catacombs in the pursuit of their heart's desire. Every heart is different, some desire great wealth while others covet great power. There are a few romantics that believe the labyrinth holds the key to restore a lost love. History's greatest warriors have descended into the dungeon’s depths, tearing through armies of monsters seeking their reward. One by one, they fell to the Darkness.

And then, a couple of aeons down the line, a new kind of hero came along.

And boy, are you... different.

For a mystical reason unbeknownst to all, you have been given something more crucial to success than all those who’ve fallen before you. You, dear fellow, have been given the power to muster the Labyrinth's souls. Now you’re not just a hero--you’re every hero.

Kunoichi is a master of evasion trained in the mysterious art of Shinobi. Her devastating attacks are uncompromised and unchallenged within the order. She can dash with a button tap and slice with her katana while in mid-dash with another tap. Kunoichi’s fierce fury is challenging to control, but with perfect timing she proves a versatile and formidable hero.

Ever wonder where Zangief got those scars? Enter: Ursa. A powerful luchador with a (metaphorical) axe to grind, Ursa channels its rage into the whirlwind slash: a big area attack that can get you out of a jam if you’re surrounded. Once Ursa gets going, though, it's hard to stop, so be careful of immovable objects--especially spiked walls.

Known only as Pyro and feared by all her enemies, this red-headed vigilante has the potential for massive damage output. Her pimped-out M9A1-7 can burn monsters to a crisp from a safe distance, and makes her the only character so far to strafe backwards and sideways while still attacking what is in front of her.

No one knows exactly where he came from, but a cold wind follows Mortimer wherever he goes. Though not terribly strong on his own, Mortimer is an incredible support hero. Trained in the dark art of necromancy, he can cast a chilling spell which damages enemies but can also raise the dead to do battle by his side.

In terms of raw power, Norseman has no competition. His bronze battle axe comes down on its targets with merciless force, hampered only in part by its wielder’s hulking slowness. When used in tandem with faster, more agile heroes, he can be an incredibly effective ally with powerful and methodically precise attacks.

The Elf King is a master bowman and a seasoned hunter of big game. He prefers his flame bolts over boring old bullets, and a volley of these missiles from his trusty crossbow can make quick work out of most monsters from a safe distance.

Everyone who backs our project will have the opportunity to help us create a hero designed by you, the Kickstarter community. If you are a backer you can submit a design for a hero or monster character, we will post it on a polling web page and other backers will be able to vote on their favorite designs. The winner’s design will be incorporated into the game and their name will appear in the credits along with ours. Good luck everyone!

Meet the Monsters:

The Slasher is not the smartest monster in the dungeon but he has two very important things going for him. His razor sharp claws, which he uses to eviscerate heroes, and the fact that he alway brings friends. When you see this guy coming around the corner, rest assured there's a mob behind him.

An immovable mound of rock that can block many types of dashes, The Mountain that Moves also has a devastating area knockback attack when he settles into a spot.

We will be revealing more monsters as the campaign progresses!

Boss Reveals coming soon!

REWARDS

Risks and challenges

The Hero Trap is a labor of love. We've been working on it for about 8 months now and as you can see, we've come a very long way. Every project has its own unique set of challenges and this is no different.

We feel our design is the strongest part of the game and we've done everything we can to breathe new life and unexpected vision to the genre. We're not done, we're still tweaking but so far we've been getting pretty rave reviews everywhere we show it.

Kickstarter campaigns are tricky for video games, you need to show some great eye candy to get people’s attention. Too often though we’ve seen gameplay take a back seat to visuals and salesmanship. We didn’t want to promise anything we couldn’t deliver on so we’ve been very careful about never showing in-game footage that wasn’t real. It’s unusual for us to have something look this good this early in a game, but we’ve challenged ourselves every step of the way to come up with innovative gameplay in addition to stunning visuals.

That said, there are real risks here. Whether the Kickstarter succeeds or fails, we plan to release the game. However, an unfunded game would have consequences. Unfortunately, it would mean the project would have to take a back seat to work we do for paying clients and so will take much longer to complete. In addition, we would have to scale back the size and features of the game.

Collectively our team has worked on everything from Game Boy Advance to web games to fully fleshed out PC games. But Playstation is a new platform for us, so there will be challenges ahead. Challenges we feel fully prepared to take on, but challenges nonetheless. Our plan is to make every version of the game great, regardless of the platform you are playing it on.

That’s why your support is so important to us. We really want to make a game that is not only strategically deep but also vast and fun to explore with hidden suprises every step of the way.

We cannot possibly foresee every problem that may occur, but we can keep you in the loop about development, letting you know way in advance when things go awry as well as when things are going well. Of course you don’t need to be a backer to talk to us, we’re always available via twitter @smashworx and also on facebook.com/smashworx.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $20 or more
About $20

★★★★FRIENDLY BUNDLE★★★★
Get 2 copies of the game on PS Vita, PS4, Mac,Linux or PC (Steam http://alturl.com/vbftk ) PLUS 3 beautifully rendered wallpapers. Submit and vote on a design for the Kickstarter hero.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $36 or more
About $36

★★★★PARTY BUNDLE★★★★ Get 4 copies of the game on PS Vita, PS4, Mac,Linux or PC (Steam http://alturl.com/vbftk ) PLUS 3 beautifully rendered wallpapers. Submit and vote on a design for the Kickstarter hero.